Cationic mismatch effect on structural and magnetic behavior of La0.5-xEuxCa0.5-yBayMnO3 charge-ordered manganites

Abstract

In this research, we have tried to investigate the effect of the cationic disorder on charge ordering and magnetic phase separation in La0.5-xEuxCa0.5-yBayMnO3 (x = 0, 0.05, and 0.1) compounds synthesized by using the sol-gel method. All the samples possess the same average ionic radius at A site <rA> and the same Mn3+/Mn4+ ratio. Our analysis confirmed the chemical composition by energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and verified the structural integrity and purity of the phase by X-ray diffraction, revealing an orthorhombic structure with Pnma space group, which is in agreement with the tolerance factor. The important mismatch effect observed in the substituted specimens induces drastic effects on the structural and microstructural properties. Magnetic measurements indicate a great reduction of Curie temperature for substituted samples (from 250 K for x = 0 to 90 K for x = 0.05 and 85 K for x = 0.1), which indicates a weakening of ferromagnetic double exchange interactions induced by cationic disorder. The Arrott plots and the magnetocaloric study of the Eu−based samples indicate the persistence of the antiferromagnetic charge-ordered state characterizing the pristine compound (x = 0) as well as the presence of a first-ordered metamagnetic transition for all the studied samples, which is ascribed to the presence of antiferromagnetic domains. Such transition induced the appearance of a shoulder peak near 100 K in the magnetic entropy change curves for high magnetic field values, resulting in an extra cooling efficiency.